[MattJargin]

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez defends 'Carlos the Jackal'

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has defended jailed killer "Carlos the Jackal" and several world leaders he says are wrongly considered "bad guys".

In a speech to international socialist politicians, Mr Chavez said "Carlos", a Venezuelan, was not a terrorist but a key "revolutionary fighter".

He is serving a life sentence in France for murders committed in 1975.

Mr Chavez also hailed Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the late Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

'Great nationalist'

Carlos, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, gained international notoriety in the 1970s as a mastermind of deadly bombings, assassinations and hostage-takings.

He was captured in Sudan in 1994 and handed over to France, where he was jailed for killing two French intelligence officers and an alleged informer in 1975.

In his speech late on Friday in Caracas, Mr Chavez said: "I defend him. It doesn't matter to me what they say tomorrow in Europe."

He said he believed Carlos had been unfairly convicted, and called him "one of the great fighters of the Palestine Liberation Organisation".

The Venezuelan leader has previously called Carlos a friend, and is reported to have exchanged letters with him in the past.

In his speech, Mr Chavez also described Presidents Mugabe and Ahmadinejad - who like Mr Chavez are strong critics of the US - as brothers.

About former Ugandan President Idi Amin, Mr Chavez said: "We thought he was a cannibal... I don't know, maybe he was a great nationalist, a patriot."

Idi Amin seized power in 1971. About 300,000 people were killed during his eight-year rule.

BBC News - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez defends 'Carlos the Jackal'

http://terrorism.about.com/od/groups...stheJackal.htm

http://africanhistory.about.com/od/b...a/bio_amin.htm

[ultimda horaf]

Chavez is a complete POS who says this crap to get attention. He's worse than a whiny 2 year old and I cannot figure why anyone pays him any attention.

[ultimda horaf]

My favorite Chavez story was some rambling diatribe of a 'Speech' he gave (perhaps celebrating Bolivar's BDay?) denouncing Latin American English speakers as being the Running dogs of Imperialists or some such rot. Funny in and of itself, but funnier still since he was giving the speech in SPANISH.

[Dndjzirw]

Chavez is a complete POS who says this crap to get attention. He's worse than a whiny 2 year old and I cannot figure why anyone pays him any attention.

Agreed. As for the last part...the answer as with a lot of current events, oil.

[dserbokim]

Chavez is endlessly entertaining and completely frigging bonkers.

The worrisome thing is that he's actually the leader of a fairly important (and potentially wealthy) South American country.

To get a sense of just how crazy he is, watch this:

FRONTLINE: the hugo chavez show | PBS

I've only made it about 10 minutes into it, but it seems to capture the power and the glory that is Chavez, which is to say he's what you'd get if you put the love child of Fidel Castro and Jerry Lewis in a position of power.